Safety walker assembly

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a safety walker assembly to assist handicapped people in walking. The safety walker assembly comprises a pair of side frames joined together by a horizontal bar arrangement to form a lightweight three sided structure. A handle bar grip member is arranged on each side frame, and an actuatable "emergency" alert device is attached to the structure, arranged to be switchable on and off by a user of the safety walker assembly. The alert device is arranged to activate upon tipping of the walker from its normal vertical.

I claim: 
     
       1. A vertically oriented safety walker assembly to assist handicapped people in walking, said safety walker assembly comprising: a pair of side frames spaced at a certain distance apart, each having an inverted U shape with a front vertical leg, a rear vertical leg and a connecting portion, a horizontal bar connecting said front legs of said side frames to form a lightweight three-sided structure;   a strut arrangement secured between said front vertical legs to provide rigidity to said walker assembly;   a handlebar grip member arranged on each of said side frames; and   an automatically actuatable alert device comprising a battery powered lamp assembly and an audible alarm attached to said horizontal bar, said device also including a tilt actuatable switch to send a signal to said alarm when said walker assembly is tipped from the vertical position to an angled position with respect to a horizontal floor surface, said device is arranged to actuate when said safety walker assembly no longer supports a user.   
     
     
       2. The safety walker assembly to assist handicapped people in walking as recited in claim 1, including: an on/off switch to permit actuation of said device, without the walker being tipped.   
     
     
       3. A method of providing a safety alert signal for an aluminum framed vertically oriented handicapped walker assembly, comprising the steps of: providing a pair of side frames spaced at a certain distance apart, each having an inverted U shape with a front vertical leg, a rear vertical leg and a connecting portion, a horizontal bar connecting said front legs of said side frames to form a lightweight three-sided structure and a strut arrangment secured between said front vertical legs to provide rigidity to said walker assemble;   attaching an electrical lamp with an actuatable switch, to said tubular frame;   connecting an actuatable tilt sensor of an alarm system, to said tubular frame together with a battery in electrical communication with an alarm to provide an audible and/or visual alarm upon said tubular frame being tipped from a horizontal orientation when said alarm system is actuated;   attaching an on/off switch to said alarm system so as to permit said system to be de-activated when said walker is not in use; and   arranging said on/off switch to be actuated by a user of said walker assembly to sound and flash an emergency signal when said switch is triggered even when said walker assembly is upright and vertical.